Speedway to buy all Hess retail stores for $2.87 billion

Speedway, a subsidiary of Marathon Petroleum Corp., is working on a deal to buy all Hess Corp. retail locations for $2.87 billion, the companies announced Thursday, May 22.

The companies expect to close the deal by the end of the third quarter of 2014, Marathon Petroleum Corp. spokeswoman Angelia Graves said.

Speedway, headquartered in Enon, Ohio, is currently the fourth-largest chain of company-owned and operated convenience stores with 1,480 locations in nine states. Hess Corp., based in New York, N.Y., is the fifth largest company-owned and operated chain with 1,256 stores in 16 states.

Graves told Land Line all Hess locations will be rebranded as Speedway approximately three years after the deal goes through.

“Combined, Speedway will have more than 2,700 company owned and operated stores,” she said.

The acquisition will make Speedway the second-largest chain of company-owned and operated stores by store count behind Couche-Tard, a Canadian company with 4,300 U.S. locations primarily branded as Circle K.

Financially, the deal will put Speedway on top in terms of overall revenue for company-owned and operated stores.

Speedway sold approximately 3.1 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel in 2013, while Hess sold approximately 6.2 billion gallons according to annual reports.

In addition to acquiring all Hess retail locations, Speedway will obtain all transport and shipper operations from the company as well as approximately 40,000 barrels per day on the Colonial Pipeline.

Parent company Marathon Petroleum Corp. is the nation’s fourth-largest refiner, producing 1.7 million barrels per day. Marathon acquired Speedway in the late 1950s.